Favorite Tweets from October

I hope you get a monster amount of candy for Halloween. Or just because it's Friday. Whatever reason you need.

Here's another treat for you -- some of my favorite tweets that you may have missed this past month.


From Others:

@FallonTonight:  A Russian group nominated Putin for a Nobel Peace Prize. "I'm all about peace," Putin said. "Piece of Ukraine, piece of Poland…"

@Jonnie_W:  Just met in an elevator, and I got flustered. Hope he knows my Love Language® is sweaty palms. 

@BurkParsons:  In his sermon on the mount Jesus demanded perfect righteous of us, in his death on the mount he fulfilled it for us.

@JoeWaters_GVL:  "Childhood poverty gets biologically embedded." - Dr Gorski 

@JamieTheVWM:  Maybe we should stop saying "Jesus loves you." and start saying "I love you. Jesus taught me how."  

@TheFatherEffect:  Your kids learn about grace by watching you give it to others.  


From Me:

To boost young brains, get kids to .

Definitely a good sign --> "As overtesting outcry grows, leaders pull back on standardized tests."

Another reason why should be the first to go to Mars!

Will this video inspire students to go into -related careers? is beautiful!!   

A little encouragement for the football coaches at Greenville High.  
on 10/31/2014 0 comments
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Halloween 2014

I go through this every year. I filter through articles about Halloween and hear feedback about how other Christian families approach this holiday.

This is it for me. I will not write about Halloween on this blog next year. I've probably said and written enough, and I'm sure I've linked to a plethora of other bloggers. Don't believe me? Check out what I posted in . . .

From this, you can tell how we feel about Halloween. It's fun for our children, but mostly we use it as another opportunity to connect with our neighbors and community. We look forward to doing that again this year, especially since we've just moved into this neighborhood 3 months ago.

Want More?

But maybe you can't get enough. So, here are some other great articles I've come across.

Halloween on Mission (Grace Church Kids). Includes a link to another great article from Desiring God.

Halloween Is Not Important (The Resurgence). "Your standing before God doesn’t change depending on what you do on October 31. To be honest, it doesn’t change no matter what you do any day of the year."

3 Tips for Discipling Your Kids Through Halloween (Verge Network). Remember these three crucial parenting principles: 1) Every decision is an opportunity for discipleship, 2) Do not fear, and 3) We are all on the same team.

Halloween -- From a Christian Parents Perspective (Family Matters). "You can choose to set limits on what your family will do or not do (like I do in mine). The Spirit will lead you. The one thing we simply can’t do is withdraw and surrender the day to the powers of darkness."

Where Did Halloween Come From? Can a Christian Celebrate It? (Center for Apologetics and Research Ministry). Just what the title says!

Candy Rapping! (DeStorm Power). OK. This is just for fun. It's your reward for making it through this list of blog posts.



That's a lot of articles! Just pick a couple to read and work through. And then spend time after Halloween thinking and discussing what you'd like to do differently next year.


on 10/28/2014 0 comments
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Teenagers and Dating

The thought of my child dating is "unbearable."
When Hannah turned 11, I decided that she was about the right age for me to start embarrassing her in public. (She disagreed, with a smile.)

Now that she's a teenager, some say that it's time for us to thinking about dating. (I disagree, with a scowl.)

Advice

Maybe your child is closer to the dating scene than my children are. Or, perhaps I'm closer than I'd like to realize. Here are some good articles to help us think through this topic:


Smile

At least these Blimey Cow videos can make me smile:

Seven Reasons Why Being a Teenager Is the Worst 





When Should You Start Dating?




Let us hear in the comments:
  • From the first video: What do you think is (or was) the worst part of being a teenager?
  • From the second video: Do you have a set age when you will allow (or allowed) your child to start dating? 

Inquiring minds want to know!


**image courtesy of clarita via morguefile
on 10/24/2014 2 comments
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Your Child's Schoolwork

 

Anna Sargeant gives 8 Thoughts to Encourage Your Kids in Schoolwork:
  1. God works.
  2. God made us to work.
  3. In working, we reflect God's image. 
  4. In itself, work is not a bad thing. 
  5. If you think work is supposed to be easy, you are wrong.
  6. Work doesn't have to defeat us. 
  7. Schoolwork is an assignment from the Lord. 
  8. Jesus came to do the work we could never do. 
Be sure to read the full article.

Then, check out this post from my archives:

**image courtesy of cienpies via freeimages
on 10/21/2014 0 comments
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9 Things I Learned about Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg / Dollywood


Since we moved this summer, we hadn't had a family vacation since we went to Washington, DC in the spring. With us settling in, and with me working multiple jobs, I knew that we needed some time together.

So we planned a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN, nearby Gatlinburg, and one day (plus a little more) at Dollywood. And this out-of-town excursion was a week-late celebration of having the first teenager in our family.

It was my first trip to any of these places, and I learned a lot.
  1. "Myrtle Beach in the Mountains."  I swear, I never heard Pigeon Forge called this, until I was having lunch with a friend a week before our trip. The name fits perfectly, as we spent 3 nights surrounded by neon lights, T-shirt shops, and pancake houses.
  2. Gatlinburg is not Pigeon Forge.  I really thought that both of these towns would have been identical, being only a few miles apart. But whereas Pigeon Forge is crowded, bright, and active, Gatlinburg seems to be quieter and more relaxed. 
  3. A large mirror maze can make for major laughs.  Don't get me wrong about Gatlinburg -- it
    is still plenty of fun. We played indoor putt-putt under blacklights and ate some great pizza. But the best part of our time there was the mirror maze; apparently it's the second largest in the country. We had fun getting through it and back a few times, and we even got to "rescue" an elderly couple that got turned around and lost -- twice. And big laughs came when our 7-year-old tried to run and smacked into mirrors. 
  4. We picked a perfect time to go.  We went late enough in the year to be past the warm summer months, but before the area was swarmed by vacationers who wanted to see the color trees. And it helps to homeschool, where we can take a Friday off of school.
  5. Weather can change quickly in the mountains.  Friday was supposed to be rainy, with scattered thunderstorms all day. But the rain (barely a drizzle) stopped by lunch. Which meant we got . . .
  6. Extra time at Dollywood.  Dollywood's policy is that if you enter the park after 3 PM, you get in free the next day. We were already planning on going all day Saturday, so we got three bonus hours of fun on Friday afternoon.
  7. One of my sons is fearless on roller coasters.  Elijah rode all the major rides with me,
    multiple times (most of our wait times for rides were under 10 minutes). We loved the Wild Eagle and Mystery Mine. Hannah joined us on Thunderhead and Tennessee Tornado. And Sender joined me and his siblings on the Firechaser Express (though he screamed the whole time), Daredevil Falls, and Blazing Fury. Joanna did none of the above, but we all did some of the calmer rides.
  8. You don't have to actively participate in order to have fun.  Joanna was joyful to see us come off of rides with big smiles. And when we rode go-carts one morning, Sender had fun just riding in the passenger seat with me. 
  9. Our kids are grateful.  I can't tell you how many times our kids told us "Thank you" over the course of the weekend. And they said, "This is the best vacation we've ever been on!"

And I'm so thankful that we could spend a long-weekend enjoying time together!

Note: If you want to see more pics, check out this album on Facebook. 


Related Links:
on 10/17/2014 0 comments
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